In this, part 11 of my long running series, I look at a specific positive from the presence of large numbers of megapixels in a camera-toting smartphone, i.e. image flexibility. And I discover yet another use for your convergence device: as a microscope! With copious examples of 'Megapixel Microscopy', I'm hoping to fire a few more imaginations with this one....
Read on in the full article.
Nice work Steve!
That hair and skin pic was eewww!!!!!
Would be great if you can compare it with N82 to see those extra MPs are swappable for a xenon or not!!!
Dear Steve , i've also tried snapping photographs off a microscope using a N95-8gb , a detialed overview and snaps are at
senseapplied [dot ] com/index.php/microscopy-with-nokia-phones
Do visit and tell me what you think
Farhan
Curious as to why comments on this story stalled at 2!!! Just testing 8-)
I'm afraid you aren't first who got the idea of megapixel microscopy.
I was using my SE k750 (only 2mpix!) to shoot images of electronic circuit components, it was especially useful with hard to reach parts - you didn't have to dismantle entire device to be able to look at chip with magnifying glass, you simply put phone near it and snapped the photo.
there is also research group doing proper microscopy with cell hpone cameras. they already demonstrated ability to see and differentiate single cells in blood drop sample. It's realy cool - you drop blood droplet on magnifing lesnes attached to your phone and it's able to see how many red blood cells, antigens, etc. there are. Example uses include monitoring and early detection of AIDS virus in the field. (Especially useful in developing countries, where proper, hi-tech diagnostic equipment is usually unavailable).
Now that's megapixel microscopy!
Interesting article.... thanks!
I found both the cropping and microscopy sides invaluable recently when rebuilding a PC - pics of the motherboard taken with my N95 8GB before ruthlessly pulling out all the cables proved a real time-saver when reconnecting, especially being able to zoom right in to identify the specific header pins.
Hi Steve and readers at All About Symbian
Great article and good pictures to illustrate it. I remember attempting this earlier with a 1 megapixel cameraphone and being disappointed that it didn't work. But then when I had my N93 with 3 megapixel camera and 3x optical zoom, I was able to do it very well. Now with my N82 and its 5 megapixel (non optical zoom) cameraphone I've done that kind of temporary photography many times. But didn't notice it was unusual cameraphone behaviour - ha-ha, good observation in that alone - and obviously there was no name for it. Now you have coined the term. Great ! I'll be discussing this in my seminars and workshops, showing how the cameraphone in our pockets is giving us new uses and abilities. Something I call for asking for the industry to innovate and create the "magical". This is one case of magic, using the cameraphone effectively as a magnifying glass. And arguably, in the battle for the pocket, our cameraphones are soon starting to infringe onto the domain of low-end microscopes ha-ha - something not many carry around on a daily basis
Your pictures are brilliant to illustrate how far this can go. If you're thinking of adding more, a good image could also be the jewellers' stampings inside gold jewelry like a wedding band etc. Stuff that is very difficult to read without a strong magnifying glass or loop.
I blogged about your article at my 7thmassmedia.com blog and posted about it also at Forum Oxford. Great concept. Megapixel Microscopy ! Fanastic..
Tomi Ahonen 😊